kiseca

If it's military only, I'd go with this, which IMO is an inclusive list of all aircraft I'd expect non enthusiasts to be reasonably likely to recognise by name and identify by shape: WW1 - Fokker Triplane WW2 - Spitfire Early cold war: U-2 definitely, maybe B-52. Depending whether they are British or American, I'd expect them to be aware of the Sabre or Hunter, but wouldn't neccessarily recognise one if they were looking at it. Late cold war: SR-71 (apparently was supposed to be called the RS-71 but the president had a dyslexic moment), Bell UH-1 Huey, and Tomcat (because Top Gun) Modern: I guess the F-35 because it's been in the news a lot, and most everyone will recognise an F117 though might only know it as the "stealth fighter". That's really a cold war era plane I guess but since it made its name in Desert Storm I'd put it under "modern" If you're including non-military then I'd add the Lockheed Constellation (early cold war), Concorde, and the Boeing 747 (late cold war) and.... Space Shuttle? Modern.... I can't think of any non-military aircraft that is both famous enough to be in the public conscience and distinctive looking enough to be easily recognised visually. Maybe the A380 if they are close enough to clock the double decker rows of windows. Of all those, I'd say Concorde would take the honours as the aircraft that most people, anywhere in the world, are both aware of, would recognise and could name it if they were looking at one. It can't be mistaken for anything else (I guess bar the Tu-144, an aircraft I'd guess the majority of non-enthusiasts aren't aware of).

That is a work of art!

Great build and it looks like a lovely proportioned kit too. So much so that I thought I might add one to the stash. Went and looked at prices, and actually yeah, I think I'll just admire photos of them

Looks great! Some lovely angles for the shots as well, really shows off her fast jet lines.

That looks amazing. The weathering really helps bring a single colour scheme to life.

I've seen it done to great effect, and I've seen it overdone, and I can say the same about any other weathering effect. I also haven't mastered it, which is also something I can say about any other weathering effect. For me, it's more successful when trying to make panels different shades than when trying to make panel lines stand out.

It's a good point. I was looking for a Spt It's a fair point, I was looking for a 1/48 Spit IX and assumed Tamiya would be the one to get, but they only have one in 1/32. It makes sense that they don't make every mark in every scale but it was still, for some reason, what I expected to find. I also agree that the choices in the op are boring and done to death, but that really goes hand in hand with a thread about which aircraft would be classics that should be staple, baseline kits for any manufacturer. They're classic kits because they sell well, everyone wants one. They're popular because they are classic aircraft that captured the public imagination for some reason. They're boring choices because they're popular. Most aircraft enthusiasts have an interest in the Spitfire or Tomcat, so most modellers have built one or want to. Hence it makes sense that most manufacturers would have such models in their portfolio.

You did all that with a brush? I'm blown away. Everything about that model just looks so good. The chipped and weathered paint, the exhaust staining - how subtle is that?... the finish which looks just the right level of matt, the crisp lines of the paintjob. That is indeed a work of art.

Been there, done that... twice

Beautiful looking model! Can't wait to see more pictures when your friend has a chance to take them.

Well this one got past me somehow! Anyway, from the photos, I can't think of anything to say except wow. Fabulous build and display.

Just finished V2. I see a few posts from others a couple of pages back from others who have finished it as well, and, though it's the first Robert Harris book I have read, I echo the thoughts that it felt a bit light. I was surprised when I'd gotten to the last 60 - 70 pages and thinking that not much had happened yet. It felt in some ways like the story was still getting set up. Despite that, I did enjoy it though. Easy to read and an interesting enough story on a subject I knew absolutely nothing about. It was also a rather different perspective on Von Braun to what I had in my mind - not that I've researched him very much - but that added some interest for me too. I also see someone is going through the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. That's arguably (yes I can argue with myself about it ) my favourite ever set of books, I can't decide if my all time favourites are the Guide, or Conn Iggulden's Conqueror series. I've read the Guides at least a half a dozen times and I just don't get tired of them. Now I'm reading Ben Rich's Skunk Works, just started it, and I am re-reading the Expanse series, just started again on Leviathan Wakes. I've read books 1 to 8 and watched all the TV series at least twice, more times for the earlier seasons. I am a bit hooked on The Expanse

Thanks for the kind words everyone. There's no special effort in the finish, it's just Tamiya fine surface primer from a rattle can with Humbrol gloss airbrushed over the top. No smoothing or polishing. It's fine for me on home display - it made it past the "good enough" post... but I know I'll have to work harder when I do a car.

My piece of nostalgia is complete. The Tigershark, painted in the red and white scheme, was my favourite model as a kid. None of my childhood models survived with me until adulthood unfortunately, but this was one I wanted back on a shelf so I bought a replacement. It's all OOB. I've left the pilot out to show the cockpit detail, and I followed the box paint codes apart from a couple of areas where I used artistic license on the ordnance (the original aircraft and instructions had Sidewinders with white noses and the box showed black stripes on the fuel tank but the build instructions make it all white) and the pylons are supposed to be body colour - so, white under the wings and I suppose red for the centreline pylon, but I thought they'd add a bit more colour detail if they were done in aluminium. Build thread with backstory here. Hope you enjoy. And on the shelf with its 1/48 stablemates.

You aren't alone! I really struggle with weathering. I tried pre-shading on the underside of my Sea Harrier, much like the OP has done. When I put the first coats of white on top, it looked like exactly what it was. Some white paint over the top of some black painted lines. Didn't look dirty or weathered at all, just looked like a terrible paintjob. So I put more white paint on, and by the time I was satisfied, the pre-shading isn't visible at all

I've been fortunate enough to see that aircraft on display in Wisconsin. Back then it was hanging from the ceiling. I had never heard of it until I saw it, and it is a very striking, very beautiful aircraft particularly in Bugatti's blue. Your model does it justice. Lovely build of an aircraft that I am surprised is not a more popular model.

Resurrecting an old thread..... was this question about what would be the evergreen, always in print models that would be a reliable staple for any kit manufacturer? If so, going by the builds on Britmodeller, I'd add the Tomcat, Starfighter and Phantom to the list.... and maybe the Sukhoi 27 and its derivatives.

Looks lovely in those colours and markings! I do like seeing familiar aircraft in unfamiliar colour schemes.

Brilliant work! Even down to the random splots of paint on the base. I also saw the cracked windscreen but didn't realise the significance until someone asked how you did it. That's such a great touch and very well done.

Looks great! I've tried the mottled finish on a Stuka and failed completely. Yours looks really good.

Lovely build! The Tempest V is such a brutal looking aircraft, but beautiful at the same time.

Yeah now you mention it, they were press fit weren't they? Quite a challenge to get in, worried about taking half the paint off them at the time, and I think that's probably the point where I broke the nozzle linking mechanism. Now they can all turn individually. That would be fun for the pilot!

There's no good reason, I'm just improvising with the colours I have and what brand I have them in. I have a few Tamiya colours, some Vallejos including the majority of my metals, and my most extensive range is Humbrol but nowhere near complete. I try stick to the general rule of acrylics are OK on top of enamels, enamels aren't OK on top of acrylics (but I seem to get away with small areas brush painted) and I have a few AK Xtreme Metals. They must not go on top of anything else because their thinners will dissolve just about everything.... So for example, I have olive drab as a Humbrol enamel colour, but not as an acrylic, but I do have a bunch of vallejo acrylic greys as model air colours. So I did the grey, including the fins to make sure I got coverage over the rather soft transition between the two - and then brushed the olive over the grey on the fins.

I've had a couple of slow weeks as work demands have spilt into my modelling time, but had a relatively free weekend and a little bit of time over the bank holiday weekend. Here's the progress. Painted the wheel wells and air brake recesses. The colour is Vallejo Metal Color Semi matt aluminium. Finished painting all the ordnance. I painted these according to kit instructions, but the tank looked a bit plain so I added a couple of black stripes with slashes at the end to mimic the kit box's artwork, and the sidewinders also looked a bit plain with only the black band as per instructions (and as on the presumably mock missiles that appear on some photos of the actual aircraft) so I added the dark nose common to (I think) the 9L, the aluminium parts on the fins where some Sidewinders seem to have a small metal component, and a copper band at the end of the dark nose section as I'd seen something like that on a photo of a Sidewinder somewhere. The end result is, I am sure, a sidewinder not found anywhere in the wild ever. The tank and Sidewinders are Humbrol gloss white enamel (Humbrol 20?), the silver is Humbrol Polished Aluminium enamel (27002), the black stripe is Tamiya X-1 matt black and the black nose section is Vallejo Black Metallic, which is actually a really nice colour. I originally bought that to mix with Vallejo Anthracite to get the Airwolf colour, but I'm not sure it will work. It looks to be very rich in fine metal flake, which in the flesh makes it look more graphite than black. It's a beautiful colour but I may have to look elsewhere to try mimic Airwolf's Phantom Grey. The anthracite on its own is too light. Anyway, I digress. If you're horrified at that mix and match of paints, then the Sparrows, painted to match the colours in the kit instructions, will have you twitching. It has Humbrol white enamel for the nose, Vallejo Model Air dark ghost grey for the body, then Humbrol enamels for the blue bands and the olive drab fins. I first did the whole missile white, so those missiles are acrylic on enamel, and then enamel on the acrylic... Finally, I got to my biggest concern in the whole project: The 30+ year old decals. They are critical to getting the aircraft looking right and I was really worried about their condition, being so old, and with the black stripes being such long, slim decals. If decals are going to disintigrate, those essential stripes were the ones most likely to do so. I tested two identical ones that are for the alternate colour scheme and that aren't used on the red / white scheme. The first, I just did straight from the sheet. The second, I first coated in Microscale Liquid Decal Film and then left for 24 hours. The first one went on fine, looked nice. The second one, the one I had coated had some small white patches and I wondered if they were colour runs. It looked good, but I chose to go for it without using the liquid decal film. In the end, the decals are actually quite thick. They came off well, they stuck really, really well (too well as I'll describe later) and they weren't a problem at all. The decal paper, however, that was disintigrating in the water and leaving little patches of paper all over the decals. That was what I had noticed on that second test one, not colour runs. So, I had to wipe a the paper off the sticky side of a few of the decals before applying, at risk of removing any adhesive, but they were very sturdy and in the end I only broke one through too much force trying to get it into place. Overall I was really happy with their condition. and they set the model off nicely I think. I used Microset and Microsol on the decals to help them lay down. I had two other problems with the decals. Firstly, I got two of the stripy ones mixed up. They went into their new homes OK but it did leave a couple of wrinkles where one is slightly bent and should be straight. By the time I realised my mistake the first one was on the aircraft and I didn't want to risk removing it, it seemed less risky to apply the other one in the wrong place too. They were all long enough to go where they needed to anyway, and it was two of the mostly straight ones. I basically swapped a rear fuselage stripe and an intake / lower fuselage stripe and you can see both have their own gentle curves to match the bodywork. The upper stripe, the one that goes under the nose, is two decals that meet just aft of the intake. The ones on the intakes themselves are a single decal. The second problem was that all the stripes are too long for the model. That's fine, just need to trim them. Except... I decided to lay them so the excess extended over the metallic nozzle section, then just trim them off once they had settled and were reasonably secure. I then cut them at the end of the paint line with a blade and tried to remove the excess. Unfortunately they stuck so well that my usual (learnt the hard, accidental way) of removing decals with masking tape wouldn't lift them. Nor would Blu Tak. I tried some water and then Microset to loosen the grip of the trim sections, but that did hardly anything as well. Eventually I resorted to carefully scraping them off with the blade, in fear of lifting the paint around the nozzle. That at least got the excess removed. Not much left to do now. I still need to paint a few of the canopy mechanism parts, and then the canopy can be assembled and installed, in the open position. The nozzle needs to be glued on. It's just resting loose in the tailpipe for the photos at the moment. The landing gear, ordnance and pylons are all painted and just need to be installed, and then it's done!

The Take Off articles weren't by Sharkey. The Sea Harrier articles appeared in issues 2 and 3 and are credited to Flt Lt Dave Morgan. I believe they are extracts from a book called Harrier At War by Alfred Price. I built this same kit some time ago, one of the first ones I built since returning to the hobby. I didn't find it a particularly difficult kit to build. It had some tricky moments and by the time the engine was in the fuselage, the mechanism connecting the four nozzles had stopped functioning, but overall it wasn't a demanding build. I know it's not a well regarded kit but for the price it gives a model that looks like a SHAR. I was happy with the result... yours is better though, JJ2016, and a lovely backstory too!